From the October 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


The coils can be wrapped tightly around the patient’s body, which both increases the sensitivity of the exam and provides clearer images. SNR can be improved with the use of contrast agents and higher-field scanners, but better coils often result in more significant gains. The technology used to develop the coils is the same that’s used for printing designs on T-shirts. Since this technology is becoming more widely used, this new way of designing coils could be made practical for mass manufacturing.

One of the challenges with MR is that the exams can sometimes span more than an hour and patients must remain still the entire time. That’s an especially difficult task for pediatric patients, who are often anesthetized.


MR scans take a long time because of the technology’s low sensitivity, but one way to increase the sensitivity is to use high-density MR coil arrays. They can both increase the strength of the received MR signal and accelerate the acquisition of the signal to achieve clearer images. The receiver coils on the market are not matched to each patient’s body and are sometimes heavy, inflexible and uncomfortable. The researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a prototype of a blanket with the coils inside that can be wrapped around an infant.

They have also partnered with a pediatric radiologist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Dr. Shreyas Vasanawala, and GE Healthcare, to bring the new coil to clinical practice. The research was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

Non-invasive prostate coils
The endorectal coils used for prostate MR exams are uncomfortable and can also make the procedure longer and more costly. Noninvasive, flexible coils may be a better option. In January, the FDA cleared Siemens Healthineers’ noninvasive SEEit prostate MR imaging solution, which include the Body 30 and Body 60 coils and new software. It can perform a routine prostate exam in 10 minutes without the use of an endorectal coil.

It’s designed to be used on the MAGNETOM Aera 1.5T and MAGNETOM Skyra 3T MR systems. The Direct RF and high-density coil technology, Tim 4G, combined with its RESOLVE diffusion technology, provide enough SNR and resolution to perform the exams with only the surface coil. “Because we are using a higher-density coil, we’re able to pick up more signal,” says John Metellus, product manager at Siemens. “We get a 20 percent gain in signal in the prostate area by using these higher capacity coils so you don’t have to use an endorectal coil.”

October 2016 Magazine

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